Whitespace as syntax (was Re: Python Rocks!)

[Bijan Parsia]

Thomas Hamelryck <thamelry at vub.ac.be> wrote:

> Paul Prescod <paul at prescod.net> wrote:
> : While you are promoting Ruby, also consider Corbascript, Pike, Lua,
> : Guile and Squeak. You'd better cover your bases!
> 
> Python is certainly a very powerfull language with many virtues, but I
> also think that its popularity at least partly is due to the "butterly
> flapping its wing effect". This is true for almost any language for that
> matter (take e.g. C++ and objective C). You mention Squeak. If Squeak
> continues to mature I think it will be a formidable competitor for python.
> At the moment, it lacks the huge amount of modules that are available for
> python (which is one the most attractive features of the language).
 
Darn, you're right! We Squeakers better get to work on those
modules...oh, yeah, Squeak doens't have a module facility (yet) :)

But seriously, the *size* of the Squeak base is rather large. The
biggest reasons for not using it as a drop in replacement for Python or
Perl is that 1) it's not *structured* to be a drop in replacement for
Python or Perl, and 2) the *content* of it's class library doesn't (yet)
cover a lot of things that people use Python and Perl for (especially on
the *nix size of things).

One large advantage that both Perl and Python have is that they fit in
well with a fairly common mindset that stems from certain set
programming/working environments. This is more or less explicit in their
designs. Squeak and Smalltalk are not a smooth fit for that mindset, so
really mastering them typically requires a shift in deeply held habits.

I think this is generally true for Lisps as well.

Cheers,
Bijan Parsia.